Monsters vs. Aliens

Reese Witherspoon provides the voice of Susan – a loving bride-to-be in Modesto, CA who gets lucky when a huge meteor falls on her before she walks into the chapel. This accident leaves her with superhuman strength, and causes her to grow to an enormous height (and prompts general managers from the WNBA to start calling her cell phone). Quickly captured by a mysterious arm of the government, Susan is taken to a top secret military facility where she learns various monsters have been captured and held for over 50 years. Now, these miscreants and societal outcastes must unite to save the planet from an alien invasion led by Gallaxhar (Rainn Wilson), who wants the material from that meteor.

Can the monsters save the day?

Will Susan ever lead a normal life again?

Monsters vs. Aliens falls into that category of movies that are funny and decent enough, but it’s nothing that will rock your world (If I start sounding like Brett Michaels in my reviews, is that a sign of the apocalypse? Should someone stage an intervention? That Rock of Love Bus show is addictive.). It’s hard to get excited about any aspect of the film as the story is only average, the three acts are put together in a very klunky way as if they were never intended to be together in the first place (haven’t we all had relationships like that?), and not all of the actors are trying very hard to create unique characters.

Instead of flowing from one moment to the next, directors Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon stumble from scene to scene kind of like Lindsay Lohan stumbles out of Roosevelt Hotel on a Friday night, but, like Lindsay, they eventually find their way home (or to Jack Nicholson’s house). Sure, the final act feels tacked on because they sped through the first two too quickly, but the writing team makes a valiant effort at trying to convey a message about inner strength, being true to yourself, and making good friends.

Additionally, this five person writing team creates fun characters (even if the dialogue is nothing amazing), and the cast of talent providing the voices makes some of those characters and their special moments silly enough to keep everyone interested. You will love listening to Hugh Laurie and Keifer Sutherland create wild, goofy characters while some other actors (who shall remain nameless) just do the voice we know them for.

I saw Monsters vs. Aliens in 2-D, so I can’t say much about the 3-D visual effects, but I am certain that a bit more effort put into the script and story would have made this a more stunning movie.

Monsters vs. Aliens is rated PG for sci-fi action, some crude humor and mild language.